UAE tops GCC in INSEAD Gender Progress Index

The UAE achieved another milestone in the area of women's empowerment by leading the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in a Gender Progress Index (GPI) released by INSEAD, a top business school.

INSEAD's GPI takes a holistic view towards gender issues and includes five dimensions: Education, health, labour, politics and power, and society. The index considers the relative performance of men versus women with no distinction between the two.

The findings of the index were discussed at a seminar marking International Women’s Day at the INSEAD Middle East Campus in Abu Dhabi, and were presented by Dr. Kai L. Chan, Distinguished Fellow, Innovation & Policy Initiative, INSEAD.

"The index will enable policy makers to understand the problems within society and focus on where efforts should be placed. It is about assessing which countries are doing their best in achieving the full potential of both sexes. There are more obstacles to women, but society progresses when both genders maximise their outcomes,'' Chan said.

''So far, other gender reports have focussed exclusively on either the level of gender progress or the ratio between men and women (i.e. absolute progress vs relative progress). For the GCC countries to perform higher on the index, they need to ensure a more balanced development," he added.

Miguel Sousa Lobo, Associate Professor of Decision Sciences, Director of the Middle East Campus, INSEAD, noted, "It is important to understand the complexity around gender roles in a globalised world to develop strategies to minimise gender gaps across cultures and domains – economic, health, legal, and others."

In December 2016, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, assigned the UAE Gender Balance Council to support the implementation of the ‘Gender Inequality Index’ issued annually by the United Nations Development Programme. In line with the UAE Vision 2021, the index has been designed to enhance the country’s efforts in driving women’s participation in the national development.

His Highness has also instructed the council to oversee the ‘Gender Inequality Index’ and the implementation of best practices and processes to ensure federal institutions achieve their gender balance targets, which will support the UAE’s vision to become one of the world’s top 25 countries that have achieved gender equality by 2021.